1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns space engineering, namely, space communication engineering.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are well-known large-sized film reflectors of light, which could be used for space radio-telephone communications and night-time illumination of ground objects from space, as described in Project “Znamya”, Rocket Space Complex “Energia”.
Among reasons that prevent achievement of the desired technical result when using this device is the fact that a mirror sheet of the reflector is released under the influence of centrifugal force arising by its rotation.
A large-sized gyrating reflector provokes the force of inertia, which hinders the control of the device and the pointing of it at the object to be illuminated.
There are also reflectors of electromagnetic radiation, such as light, with the nearest to the aforementioned device in purpose and combination of essential attributes being described in S. D. Amirov and A. S. Aliev, “System for Illuminating an Object”, described in issued Russian patent having application number RU19990111294, now Russian Patent Number RU2,163,353 C1. This can be specified as a prototype of the present invention. The prototype has internal and external pneumatic chambers installed on the guidance system and pneumatically connected with each other by radial supports, and a source of compressed gas, such as air. The pneumatic chambers and radial supports are linked to and interact with the mirror sheet, which in turn consists of elastic dielectric film coated with the light reflecting metal film, such as aluminum.
However, the known design of the radiation reflector in the Amirov et al. patent does not allow folding of the mirror sheet and receiving specular spherical surfaces with small radius of curvature.